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ADDRESS 



ACTS AND DELIVERANCES 



OF THE 



GENERAL ASSEMBLY 

OF THE 

OLD SCHOOL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

DURING THE PAST FIVE YEA.RS, 

ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 

BY 

Rev. JOSEPH T. SMITH, D. D. 



i 

Delivered by request, in the Central Presbyterian Church, 

Baltimore, on Thursday Evening, June 21, 1866. 



BALTIMORE: .... WM. K. BOYLE, PRINTER. 

1866. 



ADDRESS 



ACTS AND DELIVERANCES 



OF THE 



GENERAL ASSEMBLY 

OF THE 

OLD SCHOOL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS, 

ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 

BY 

Rev. JOSEPH T. SMITH, D. D. 



Delivered by request, in the Central Presbyterian Church, 
Baltimore, on Thursday Evening, June 21, 1866. 



BALTIMORE: .... WM. K. BOYLE, PRINTER. 
1866. 



,5c 






ADDRESS, 



It is with great hesitation and reluctance I enter upon the duty 
here assigned me. My taste and temperament and habits and uniform 
course of conduct with reference to the questions before us. seemed to 
disqualify me, above all others, for such a service as this. Brethren 
and friends, however, to whose better judgment I have yielded my 
own, have thought that I might be able to remove some misappre- 
hensions, relieve some minds of painful perplexities, and shed some 
light upon the path of duty, in which we all desire to walk; and with 
the hope, however faint, of accomplishing such a result as this, for 
the good of our Zion and the glory of our common Master. I dared 
not refuse the service. 

It is a sad thing, my Brethren, that we are here at all on such an 
occasion as this. The storm of war, which has swept so wildly over 
us, is now past, The sword is sheathed, the confused noise of the 
warrior no longer heard, soldiers transformed into citizens, have every- 
where returned to the pursuits of peaceful industry again, and the 
blessed Sun of Peace, breaking through the dun clouds which so long 
obscured it, again shines brightly upon us. During all these terrible 
years of passion and strife we watched and wept and prayed, ! how 
earnestly, for the Peace of Jerusalem. Prizing her above our chief 
joy, it was our heart's first desire that she might be preserved amidst 
the perils which threatened her. While all along the border, where the 
tempest broke in its utmost fury, churches were rent, pastors sundered 
from congregations, and congregations torn and scattered, God in his 
boundless mercy preserved us; and when the storm was overpast, our 
holy and our beautiful house still stood entire, and we, who had so long 
taken sweet counsel together, were still seen going up to the House of 
God in company, and sitting together around the table of our common 



Lord. It was a beautiful spectacle; and as we rejoiced, we gave God 
all the glory. We felt as we looked upon it, that Christ's kingdom 
was indeed not of this world, that His people, whatever differences 
might obtain among them as citizens of an earthly kingdom, as citi- 
zens of the heavenly kingdom were all one — all one in Christ. 
• And now that all is over— that the questions which threatened us 
are by universal consent settled — it canuot be that Peace shall bring 
upon us all the calamities of War. This blessed dove, with the green 
olive branch in its mouth, which is hovering around the open window 
of our storm-tossed ark, our own hands cannot surely thrust it away; — 
not now, when so great a work awaits us, — when so many desolations 
are to be repaired — -when the wounds left upon our own spirits are to 
be healed — when the cause of Christ in this great city demands our 
utmost care— when Prophetic events so long foretold and anticipated, 
are palpably moving on to their great accomplishment. I have no harsh 
word to speak, not onu to awaken passion or inflame excitement; I 
would speak the truth, in love, calmly and soberl}'. Let me ask your 
prayers, my Brethren, that I may be suffered to give no wrong touch 
to the Ark of God, and that with hearts purified from all passion, and 
minds emptied of all prejudice, we may rejoice together in the fulfil- 
ment of the promise, "To the upright in heart, there arises Light out 
of Darkness." 

The Subject which now claims our attention is, what is the duty of 
those among us, who may disapprove of any, or all the Acts and 
Deliverances of the General Assembly of our Church, during these 
troublous years past. The single question upon which it is held the 
Assembly has erred, is that of the relation between Church and State, — 
the spiritual and the temporal powers, — existing as they do side by side, 
touching each other at so many points, traversing each other's territories 
in so many directions, and often so difficult to be discriminated. 

The Assembly, it is charged, has over and over again left its appro- 
priate sphere, intruded upon that of the State, and intermeddled with 
civil affairs, which, by the Word of God and the standards of the 
Church, it is forbidden to handle. Christ's kingdom is not of this 
world. "Synods and Councils," says our Confession of Faith, "are to 
handle or conclude nothing but that which is ecclesiastical, and are not 
to intermeddle with civil affairs which concern the Commonwealth, 
unless by way of humble petition in cases extraordinary; or by way of 
advice for satisfaction of conscience, if they be thereunto required by 
the civil magistrate."— Confession of Faith , chap. 31, sec. 4. 



Such is the doctrine of the Presbyterian Church, and it is one dear to 
us. for it is one peculiarly our own. It is the doctrine of our com- 
mon Presbyterianism, and as a Doctrine no Assembly, or Synod, or 
Presbytery, or Minister, or Member of our Church, has ever called it 
in question. It belongs to no sect or segment of our communion, it is 
the common inheritance of us all. You would as soon expect to hear 
an American Presbyterian deny the Divinity of Christ, or His Atone- 
ment, as the Doctrine here set forth. I have never preached politics, 
and I never will. As a Minister 1 have never intermeddled with civil 
affairs, which belong to the Commonwealth, and I never will; and in 
this, my Brethren, I am sure, all are agreed with me. 

And now the question recurs in what respects, and how far has the 
Assembly done violence to this doctrine. We begin with the Act of 1861, 
as first in order, familiar to you all as "the Spring Resolutions," which 
we quote in full : 

"Gratefully acknowledging the distinguished bounty and care of 
Almighty God toward this favored land, and also recognizing our obli- 
gations to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, this 
General Assembly adopt the following resolutions : 

"Resolved, 1. That in view of the present agitated and unhappy condi- 
tion of this country, the first day of July next be hereby set apart as 
a day of prayer throughout our bounds; and that on this day ministers 
and people are called on humbly to confess and bewail our national sins, 
to offer our thanks to the Father of light for His abundant and undeserved 
goodness toward us as a nation; to seek His guidance and blessing upon 
our rulers, and their counsels, as well as on the Congress of the United 
States about to assemble; and to implore Him, in the name of Jesus 
Christ, the great High Priest of the Christian profession, to turn away 
His anger from us, and speedily restore to us the blessings of an honor- 
able peace. 

"Resolved, 2. That this General Assembly, in the spirit of that Chris- 
tian patriotism which the sacred Scripture enjoins, and which has 
always characterized this Church, do hereby acknowledge and declare 
our obligation to affirm and perpetuate, so far as in us lies, the integrity 
of these United States, and to strengthen, uphold and encourage the 
Federal Government in the exercise of all its functions under our Con- 
stitution; and to this Constitution in all its provisions, requirements and 
objects, we profess our unabated loyalty. And to avoid all misconcep- 
tions, the Assembly declare, that by the terms Federal Government, 
is not meant any particular administration or the peculiar opinions of 
any particular party, but that central administration, which being at 



any time appointed and inaugurated according to the forms prescribed 
in the Constitution of the United States, is the visible representative of 
our national existence." — Minutes of the General Assembly, page 329. 
Against this action, the Commissioners from this Presbytery voted, 
and with fifty-six others protested. I will read from the protest and 
the answer of the Assembly, such extracts as will bring out clearly the 
points in controversy. 

Protest of Dr. Hodge and others. 

"We, the undersigned, respectfully protest against the action of the 
General Assembly, in adopting the minority report of the Committee on 
the State of the Country. 

"We make this protest, not because we do not acknowledge loyalty 
to our country to be a moral and religious duty, according to the Word 
of God, which requires us to be subject to the powers that be; nor because 
we deny the right of the Assembly to enjoin that, and all other like 
duties, on the ministers and churches under its care; but because we 
deny the right of the General Assembly to decide the political question, 
to what government the allegiance of Presbyterians as citizens is due, 
and its right to make that decision a condition of membership in our 
Church. 

"That the paper adopted by the Assembly does decide the political 
question just stated, is in our judgment undeniable. It asserts not only 
the loyalty of this body to the Constitution and the Union, but it 
promises in the name of all the churches and ministers whom it repre- 
sents, to do all that in them lies to 'strengthen, uphold, and encourage the 
Federal Government.' It is, however, a notorious fact, that many of 
our ministers and members conscientiously believe that the allegiance of 
the citizens of this country is primarily due to the States to which they 
respectively belong; and, therefore, that when any State renounces its 
connection with the United States, and its allegiance to the Constitution, 
the citizens of that State are bound by the laws of God to continue loyal 
to their State, and obedient to its laws. The paper adopted by the As- 
sembly virtually declares, on the other hand, that the allegiance of the 
citizen is due to the United States; anything in the Constitution, or ordi- 
nances, or laws of the several States to the contrary notwithstanding. 

"It is not the loyalty of the members constituting this Assembly, nor 
of our churches and ministers in any one portion of our country that is 
thus asserted, but the loyalty of the whole Presbyterian Church, North 
and South, East and West. 



"Allegiance to the Federal Government is recognized or declared to 
be the duty of all the churches and ministers represented in this body. 
In adopting this paper, therefore, the Assembly does decide the great 
political question which agitates and divides the country. The question 
is, whether the allegiance of our citizens is primarily to the State or to 
the Union. However clear our own convictions of the correctness of this 
decision may be, or however deeply we may be impressed with its im- 
portance, yet it is not a question which this Assembly has the right to 
decide. 

"That the action of the Assembly in the premises does not only 
decide the political question referred to, but makes that decision a term 
of membership in our Church, is no less clear. It is not analogous to 
the recommendation of a religious or benevolent institution, which our 
members may regard or not at pleasure; but it puts into the mouths of 
all represented in this body, a declaration of loyalty and allegiance to 
the Union and to the Federal Government. But such a declaration, 
made by our members residing in what is called the seceding States 
is treasonable. Presbyterians under the jurisdiction of those States, 
cannot, therefore, make that declaration. They are consequently forced 
to choose between allegiance to their States and allegiance to the 
Church. 

"The General Assembly in thus deciding a political question, and in 
making that decision practically a condition of membership in the 
Church, has, in our judgment, violated the Constitution of the Church, 
and usurped the prerogative of its Divine Master. 

"We protest loudly against the action of the Assembly, because it 
is a departure from all its previous actions. 

"The General Assembly has always acted on the principle that the 
Church has no right to make anything a condition of Christian or min 
isterial fellowship, which is not enjoined or required in the Scriptures 
and the standards of the Church." — Minutes of the General Assembly, 
pages 339 and 340. 

In the Assembly's answer to this protest, they say: 

"The first and main ground of protest against the adoption of this 
resolution, is, that the General Assembly has no right to decide purely 
political questions; that the question whether the allegiance of American 
citizens is due primarily and eminently to the State, or to the Union, 
is purely political, of the gravest character, dependent upon constitu- 
tional theories and interpretations, respecting which, various opinions 
prevail in different sections of our country; that the action of the . 
Assembly virtually determines this vexed question, decides to what 



government the allegiance of Presbyterians, as citizens, is due, and 
makes that decision a term of communion. 

"The protestants "deny the right of the General Assembly to decide 
to what government the allegiance of Presbyterians, as citizens, is due." 
Strictly speaking, the Assembly has made no such decision. They 
have said nothing respecting the allegiance of the subjects of any foreign 
power, or that of the members of our mission Churches in India, China, 
or elsewhere, who may hold connection with our denomination. The 
action complained of relates solely to American Presbyterians, citizens 
of these United States. 

"Even with regard to them, the Assembly has not determined, as 
between conflicting governments, to which our allegiance is due. We 
are the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United 
States of America. Such is the distinctive name, ecclesiastical and 
legal, under which we have chosen to be known by our sister Churches 
and by the world. Our organization as a General Assembly was 
cotemporaneous with that of our Federal Government. In the seventy- 
four years of our existence, Presbyterians have known but one supreme 
government, one nationality, within our wide-spread territory. We 
know no other now. History tells of none. The Federal Government 
acknowledges none. No nation on earth recognizes the existence of 
two independent sovereignties within these United States What Divine 
Providence may intend for us hereafter — what curse of rival and hostile 
sovereignties within this broad heritage of our fathers, — we presume not 
to determine. Do these protestants, who so anxiously avoid political 
entanglements, desire the General Assembly to anticipate the dread 
decision of impending battle, the action of our own government, the 
determination of foreign powers, and even the ultimate arbitration of 
Heaven? Would they have us recognize, as good Presbyterians, men 
whom our own Government, with the approval of Christendom, may 
soon execute as traitors? May not the highest Court of our Church, 
speaking as the interpreter of that holy law which says, 'Ye must needs 
be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake,' Rom. xiii. 
5, warn her communicants against 'resisting the ordinance of God?' 
Rom. xiii. 2. In the language of the learned Reviewer above cited, 
'Is disunion morally right? Does it not involve a breach of faith, and 
a violation of the oaths by which that faith was confirmed? We believe, 
under existing circumstances, that it does, and therefore it is as dreadful 
a blow to the Church as it is to the State. If a crime at all, it is one 
the heinousness of which can only be imperfectly estimated.' 



"la the judgment of this Assembly, 'this saying is true;' and there- 
fore the admission, on the part of the Assembly, that Presbyterians may 
take up arms against the Federal Government, or aid and comfort its 
enemies, and yet be guiltless, would exhibit that 'practical recognition 
of the right of secession,' which, says the Reviewer, would 'destroy 
our national life ' 

"But we deny that this Deliverance of the Assembly establishes any 
new term of communion. The terms of Christian fellowship are laid 
down in the Word of God, and are embodied in our standards. It is 
competent to this Court to interpret and apply the doctrines of the Word; 
to warn men against prevailing sins; and to urge the performance of 
neglected duties. We regard the action, against which these protests 
are levelled, simply as a faithful declaration by the Assembly, of 
Christian duty towards those in authority over us; which adds nothing 
to the terms of communion already recognized. Surely the idea of the 
obligation of loyalty to our Federal Government is no new thing to 
Presbyterians. 

"And this is a sufficient reply, also, to the second article of this pro- 
test. Having established no new term of membership, this Assembly 
is not liable to the charge of having departed from the old paths." 
Minutes of the General Assembly, pages 342 and 343. 

There was no question between the Assembly and the protestanls 
as to the doctrine that the Church must not handle political affairs; 
the only question was one of fact or opinion as to whether the act in 
question was political. Both agreed upon the Princple, the differ- 
ence was as to the application of the principle to a certain state of 
facts. There was no question either as to the judgment of the As- 
sembly, whether right or wrong in itself, but simply and solely 
whether, as a Spiritual Court, it had a right to pronounce any judg- 
ment at all upon the subject. Let this be borne distinctly in 
mind. 

The decisive question was here settled, and upon the Acts of 
subsequent years we need but glance. In 1862, (Minutes, p. 624) 
an elaborate paper was adopted recognizing the fact that the 
Federal Government was the "powers that be" which are ordained 
of God, that loyalty was due to it, that rebellion against it might be, 
perhaps was, sin, that it ought to crush force by force, and that the 
Church should uphold it. A paper adopted with less opposition, as 
the Southern Churches were unrepresented and its action respected 
only those in States connected with the Central Government. 
2 



10 

In 1863 a piper was adopted refusing to display a flag upon the 
building in which the Assembly met, and reiterating substantially 
the Deliverances of previous Assemblies. 

In 1864 an elaborate paper was adopted on the subject of Slavery, 
reviewing the action of the Church upon it, and citing its Deliver- 
ances through successive years from 1787 onward, (all condemn- 
ing the system,) reaching this conclusion, "that in the judgment of 
the Assembly the time has at length come, in the providence of God, 
when it is His will that every vestige of human slavery among us 
should be effaced, and that every Christian man should address him- 
self with industry and earnestness to his appropriate part in the 
performance of this great duty." This action is objected against, 
not only because slavery is a political institution, but became con- 
tradictory of previous testimonies of the Assembly. Two Deliv- 
erances bring out the precise position of our Church on this whole 
subject. That of 1818, drawn up by Dr. Baxter, of Virginia, 
supported by all the Southern members and adopted by the Assem- 
bly unanimously. A few extracts will bring out the main positions 
taken in this paper of 1818. 

"The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, having taken 
into consideration the subject of slavery, think proper to make 
known their sentiments upon it to the Churches and people under 
their care. 

"We consider the voluntary enslaving of one portion of the hu- 
man race by another, as a gross violation of the most precious and 
sacred rights of human nature; as utterly inconsistent with the law 
of God, which requires us to love our neighbor as ourselves, and as 
totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of the gospel of 
Christ, which enjoin that 'all things whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them.' Slavery creates a para- 
dox in the moral system; it exhibits rational, accountable, and im- 
mortal beings in snch circumstances as scarcely to leave them the 
power of moral action. It exhibits them as dependent on the will 
of others, whether they shall receive religious instruction; whether 
they shall know and worship the true God; whether they shall 
enjoy the ordinances of the gospel; whether they shall perform the 
duties and cherish the endearments of husbands and wives, parents 
and children, neighbors and friends; whether they shall preserve 
their chastity and purity, or regard the dictates of justice and hu- 
manity. Such are some of the consequences of slavery — conse- 
quences not imaginary, but which connect themselves with its very 



11 

existence. The evils to which the slave is always exposed often 
take place in fact, and in their very worst degree and form; and 
where all of them do not take place, as we rejoice to say in many 
instances, through the influence of the principles of humanity and 
religion on the mind of masters, they do not — still the slave is de- 
prived of his natural right, degraded as a human being, and ex- 
posed to the danger of passing into the hands of a master who may 
inflict upon him all the hardships and injuries which inhumanity and 
avarice may suggest. 

"From this view of the consequences resulting from the practice 
into which Christian people have most inconsistently fallen, of en- 
slaving a portion of their brethren of mankind' — for 'God hath made 
of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth' — 
it is manifestly the duty of all Christians who enjoy the light of the 
present day, when the inconsistency of slavery both with the dic- 
tates of humanity and religion, has been demonstrated, and is gen- 
erally seen and acknowledged, to use their honest, earnest, and un- 
wearied endeavors to correct the errors of former times, and as 
speedily as possible to efface this blot on our holy religion, and to 
obtain the complete abolition of slavery throughout Christendom, 
and if possible throughout the world." — BaircVs Digest, r pp. S09-10. 

The Paper of 1S45, adopted by a large majority, was drawn up 
by Dr. Rice, of New York. Of this Assembly I was a member, 
and for this paper I voted. Its main features are these: 

"The committee to whom were referred the memorials on the sub- 
ject of slavery, beg leave to submit the following report : 

"The memorialists may be divided into three classes, viz : 

"1. Those which represent the system of slavery, as it exists in 
these United States, as a great evil, and pray this General Assembly 
to adopt measures for the amelioration of the condition of the slaves. 

"2. Those which ask the Assembly to receive memorials on the 
subject of slavery, to allow a full discussion of it, and to enjoin upon 
the members of our Church, residing in States whose laws forbid the 
slaves being taught to read, to seek by all lawful means the repeal 
of those laws. 

"3. Those which represent slavery ss a moral evil, a heinous sin 
in the sight of God, calculated to bring upon the Church the curse 
of God, and calling for the exercise of discipline in the case of those 
who persist in maintaining or justifying the relation of master to 
slave. 



12 

"The question which is now unhappily agitating and dividing 
other branches of the Church, and which is pressed upon the atten- 
tion of the Assembly by one of the three classes of memorialists just 
named, is, whether the holding of slaves is, under all circumstances, 
a heinous sin, calling for the discipline of the Church. 

"The Church of Christ is a spiritual body, whose jurisdiction ex- 
tends to the religious faith and moral conduct of her members. She 
Cannot legislate, where Christ has not legislated, nor make terms of 
membership which he has not made. The question, therefore, which 
this Assembly is called to decide, is this: Do the Scriptures teach 
that the holding of slaves, without regard to circumstances; is a sin, 
the renunciation of which should be made a condition of member- 
ship in the Church of Christ ? 

"It is impossible to answer this question in the affirmative, with- 
out contradicting some of the plainest declarations of the Word of 
God. That slavery existed in the days of Christ and his Apostles 
is an admitted fact. That they did not denounce the relation itself 
as sinful, as inconsistent with Christianity; that slaveholders were 
admitted to membership in the Churches organized by the Apostles^ 
that whilst they were required to treat their slaves with kindness, 
and as rational, accountable, immortal beings, and, if Christians, as 
brethren in the Lord, they were not commanded to emancipate themj 
that slaves were required to be 'obedient to their masters according 
to the flesh, with fear and trembling, with singleness of heart as unto 
Christ/ are facts which meet the eye of every reader of the New 
Testament. This Assembly cannot, therefore, denounce the holding 
of slaves as necessarily a heinous and scandalous sin, calculated to 
bring upon the Church the curse of God, without charging the 
Apostles of Christ with conniving at sin, introducing into the Chureb 
such sinners, and thus Winging upon them the curse of the 
Almighty. 

"In so saying, however, the Assembly are iaot to be understood as 1 
denying that there is evil connected with slavery. Much less do 
they approve those defective and oppressive laws by which, in some 
of the States, it is regulated. Nor would they by any means coun- 
tenance the traffic in slaves for the sake of gain; the separation of 
husbands and wives, parents and children, for the sake of 'filthy 
lucre,* or for the convenience of the mastery or cruel treatment of 
slaves, in any respect. Every Christian and philanthropist certainly 
seek by all peaceable and lawful means, the repeal of unjust and 
oppressive laws, and the amendment of such as are defective, so as- 



13 

to protect the slaves from cruel treatment by wicked men, and 
secure to them the right to receive religious instruction. 

"Nor is the Assembly to be understood as countenancing ihe idea 
that masters may regard their servants as mere property, and not as 
human beings, rational, accountable, immortal. The Scriptures 
prescribe not only the duties of servants, but of masters also, warn- 
ing the latter to discharge those duties, 'knowing that their Master 
is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him. 

"In view of the above stated principles and facts: 

"Resolved, 1. That the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church in the United States was originally organized, and has since 
continued the bond of union in the Church, upon the conceded prin- 
ciple that the existence of domestic slavery, under the circumstances 
in which it is found in the Southern portion of the country, is no bar 
to Christian communion. 

"2. That the petitions that ask the Assembly to make the holding 
of slaves in itself a matter of discipline, do virtually require this 
judicatory to dissolve itself, and abandon the organization, under 
which, by the Divine blessing, it has so long prospered. The ten- 
dency is evidently to separate the Northern from the Southern por- 
tion of the Church; a result which every good citizen must deplore, 
as tending to the dissolution of the Union of our beloved coun- 
try, and which every enlightened Christian will oppose as bring- 
ing about a ruinous and unnecessary schism between brethren who 
maintain a common faith."— Ba ird's Digest, p. 813. 

In 1846 the General Assembly affirmed the agreement of all its 
Deliverances on the subject of Slavery in these words: 

"Our Church has, from time to time, during a period of nearly 
sixty years, expressed its views on the subject of slavery. During all 
this period it has held and uttered substantially the same sentiments. 
Believing that this uniform testimony is true, and capable of vindi- 
cation from the Word of God, the Assembly is at the same time 
clearly of the opinion that it has already deliberately and solemnly 
spoken on this subjeet with sufficient fulness and clearness. There- 
fore, 

"Resolved, That in the judgment of this House, the action of the 
General Assembly of 1845 was not intended to deny or rescind the 
testimony uttered often by the General Assemblies previous to that 
date." — Band's Digest, p. 814. 

The last Assembly affirmed that the actions of '64 and '65 are 
. not contradictory of any previous actions. 



14 

The seeming contradiction vanishes when we remember that the 
Assembly held that the mere relation of master and slave was not 
sinful, and could not be made a bar to communion. This is the fact 
which the paper of 1845 affirms and draws out to its legitimate 
consequences. The papers of 1 S 18 and 1S64, on the other hand., affirm 
that the system of slavery, with all the laws, usages and abuses 
which had actually grown up within and around it was an evil. The 
one condemns the system as sinful, the other denies that every one 
implicated in the system is necessarily a sinner. 

We come now to the action of 1865, which differs in one essential 
feature from all these. In all former Deliverances I he Assembly 
simply exercised its office of instruction, and propounded its opinions 
or sentiments as a Religious Teacher. Here it exercises its power of 
Government. 

"I. The right of every Presbytery to examine ministers asking 
admission into their body, as to their soundness in the faith, which has 
been long acknowledged and practiced by our Presbyteries, implies 
their right by parity of reasoning to examine them on all subjects 
which seriously affect the peace, purity, and unity of the Church. 

" IT. The exercise of this right becomes an imperative duty, in 
the present circumstances of our country, when, after the crushing 
by military force of an atrocious rebellion against the Government 
of the Un'ted States, for the perpetuation of slavery, many ministers 
who have aided and abetted this revolt, may seek admission into 
Presbyteries located in the loyal States. Therefore, 

"III. It is hereby ordered that all our Presbyteries examine every 
minister applying for admission from any Presbytery or other eccle- 
siastical body in the Southern States, on the following points : 

"1, Whether he has in any way, directly or indirectly, of his own 
free will and consent, or without external constraint, been concerned 
at any time in aiding or countenancing the rebellion and the war 
which has been waged against the United States; and if it be found 
by his own confession or from sufficient testimony, that he has been 
so concerned, that he be required to confess and forsake his sin in 
this regard before he shall be received. 

"2. Whether he holds that the system of negro slavery in the South 
is a Divine institution, and that it is 'the peculiar mission of the 
Southern Church to conserve the institution of slavery as there main- 
tained,' and if it be found that he holds either of these doctrines, 
that he be not received without renouncing and forsaking these 
errors. 



15 

"V. Church sessions are also ordered to examine all applicants 
for church membership by persons from the Southern States, or who 
have been living- in the South since the rebellion, concerning their 
conduct and principles on the points above specified; and if it be 
found that of their own free will they have taken up aims against the 
United States, or that they hold slavery to be an ordinance of God- 
as above stated, such persons shall not be admitted to the com- 
munion of the Church till they give evidence of repentance for their 
sin and renounce their error. 

"VI. The. General Assembly gives counsel to the several church 
courts specified in these orders, that in discharging the duties en- 
joined therein, due regard be paid to the circumstances of the case 
and that justice be tempered with mercy. Especially is this counsel 
given to churches in the border States, where many impulsive and 
ardent young men, without due consideration, have been led away 
by their superiors, or seduced from their loyally by their erroneous 
interpretation of the doctrine ofSrate rights " — Minutes, 1865,^. 563. 
The Assembly just adjourned does not properly come under our 
notice here, for confessedly, there was nothing political in its Acts 
and Deliverances, save as these contained incidental references to the 
Acts of preceding Assemblies. The " Declaration and Testimony'* 
against which, and against the Presbytery of Louisville which 
adopted, and the individual ministers and elders who signed it, the 
judgment of the Assembly was pronounced, was a strictly ecclesiastical 
paper, and contained nothing poli ical. The offence charged against 
those who adopted and signed it, was not political but ecclesiastical. 
They were condemned for what was declared to be an act of de- 
fiance and insubordination against the lawful authority of the highest 
court of the Church. It was not for the principles they avowed, for 
those principles were mainly true — nor for the dissent and disapproval 
they uttered against the Acts of the Assembly, for the Assembly 
explicitly recognized their right to dissent; nor for their refusal to 
carry out any supposed Orders of the Assembly, for this the As- 
sembly did not require, but simply and solely because of their open 
defiance of the authority of a court to which their ordination vows 
and the laws of Christ's house bound them to submit. I am not say- 
ing now that the process was properly conducted, for I do not think 
so, and voted against i», at every step, but simply that the whole mat- 
ter was ecclesiastical, not political, and the errors, whatever they were, 
w r ere altogether errors in the mode of conducting a process which it 
was confessedly competent to conduct. And I give it as my honest 



16 

opinion from constant and large intercourse with members of the As- 
sembly, and especially of its leaders, and from careful observation of 
their spirit and purposes, that had it not been for the lavish distribution 
through the house of the Declaration and Testimony in printed form, 
which they regarded as an intended insult and defiance of their 
authority, and for the presence of some whom they considered as 
sent there in open contempt of them as a court of Christ's House, 
there would have been nothing done at the last Assembly to occa- 
sion disquiet to any — nothing butefforts to bind up what was broken. 
That is my honest and deliberate opinion, which you may take for 
what it is worth. I differed from the policy pursued, but I feel 
bound to say, that in my judgment, it sprang from a sincere desire 
to vindicate what was considered the lawful authority and dignity 
of the highest, court of Christ's House. 

It has been been often repeated that the Commissioners from the 
Louisville Presbytery were expelled from the house without having 
a trial. The simple fact was that they were suspended from their 
privileges as members of the body until their case should be taken 
up, when, by express resolution, their right to a full hearing was 
recognized. And this suspension until their case was taken up was 
justified by those who advocated it, on the principle recognized in 
our book, that where persons are charged with grave offences, the 
court which takes cognizance of the case may suspend them from 
their privileges until it can be taken up. 

It has been charged that the spirit of the Assembly was unkind, 
particularly towards our Southern brethren. An answer may be 
found in the following paper, offered by me and adopted almost 
unanimously: 

" Whereas, The churches in that portion of our country lately in 
rebellion, whose names appear upon our roll, have not been repre- 
sented in this Assembly, and still remain in a state of separation 
from us; and whereas, the measures adopted by this Assembly, if 
not carried out by the lower courts in a spirit of great meekness and 
forbearance, may result in perpetuating and embittering divisions 
already existing, and extending them over portions of our Church 
now at peace. Therefore, be it 

Resolved, That this Assembly greatly deplores the continued 
separation between ourselves and our Southern brethren, so long 
united with us in the bonds of Christian love and ecclesiastical fel- 
lowship, and expresses the earnest desire that the way may be soon 



17 

opened for a reunion on the basis of our common standards, and on 
terms consistent with truth and righteousness. 

"Resolved, That the lower courts who may be called upon to 
execute the measures of this Assembly, be enjoined to proceed therein 
with great meekness and forbearance, and in a spirit of kindness and 
conciliation, to the end that strifes and dissensions be not multiplied 
and inflamed and extended still more widely, and that the discipline 
of Christ's house may prove for edification and not for destruction." 
Proceedings, 1S66, p. 99. 

It is a mistake that the last Assembly requires any oath of any kind 
from the members of our Churches. It is a mistake that it claims or 
holds Zion Church, in Charleston, S. C, as its property — or that any 
Assembly at any time went in a body to the rooms of any Loyal 
League and made political speeches, or rose to their feet and sang 
patriotic songs. These are little things, mentioned here only as 
specimens of misapprehensions extensively prevailing and encoun- 
tered by us upon the streets. 



And now from this long and tedious review we come back to the 
simple question before us. 

The Assembly declares that the Federal Government is that 
ordinance of God which we are bound to reverence and obey; and 
that rebellion against it is a sin, to be visited upon those guilty of it 
as other sins. These two statements embrace in substance the whole. 
And now, without any question as to whether they are are true or 
false in themselves, had the Church as such a right to declare and 
enforce them 1 If not, did it intermeddle with civil affairs which 
concern the Commonwealth in such a way and so far as to make it 
an Apostate Church? 

In reply we remark: 1st. These Acts are in entire harmony with the 
the Acts and Deliverances of our Church from its very beginning in 
this country. And if Apostate now, and because of these, then has 
the Presbyterian Church in this land been always Apostate. In Baird's 
Digest, under the Caption "Pastoral Letter on occasion of the old 
French War," before the Assembly was organized, the Synod of New 
York says: "We look on ourselves bound, not only as members cf the 
community, but by the duty of our office, as those who are entrusted 
with the declaration of God's revealed will, to exhort all to implore 
God's mercy for themselves, their children, country and nation, their 
and our rightful and gracious sovereign, King George the Second, his 



18 

royal family, all officers civil and military." The highest Church 
court distinctly recognizes the reigning King, "the powers that be," 
as "our rightful and gracious sovereign."— BaircVs Digest, p. 820. 

2. Again we find "A Pastoral Letter on the Repeal of the Stamp 
Act," in which, after speaking of the imposition of unusual taxes, 
the severe restrictions on trade, the almost total stagnation of busi- 
ness and the danger of being deprived of the blessing of English 
liberty, from all which they had been delivered by the clemency of 
the Government, we find these words, "You will not forget to honor 
your King and pay a due submission to his august Parliament. 
Let this fresh instance of royal clemency increase the ardor of your 
affection to the person, family and government of our rightful and 
gracious sovereign. We most earnestly recommend it to you to 
encourage and strengthen the hands of Government, to demonstrate 
on every proper occasion your undissembled love for your mother 
country and your attachment to her true interest, so inseparably 
connected with your own." — Do. p. 821. 

Again, "on the Revolutionary War," after stating that in such a 
crisis as that of impending war, they felt bound as the highest tribu- 
nal of the Church, to speak to the congregations under their care, 
and after reviewing the causes which led to the war, they go on in 
these words: "First, In carrying on this important struggle let 
every opportunity be taken to express your attachment and respect 
to our sovereign, King George, and to the revolution principles by 
which his august family was seated on the British throne. Secondly, 
Be careful to maintain the union which at present subsists through 
all the colonies; nothing can be more manifest than that the success 
of every measure depends on its being inviolably preserved. In 
particular as the Continental Congress now sitting at Philadelphia 
consists of delegates chosen in the most free and unbiassed manner 
by the body of the people, let them not only be treated with respect 
and encouraged in their difficult service, but adhere firmly to their 
resolutions, and let it be seen that they are able to bring out the 
whole strength of this vast country to carry them into execution." 
Do. p. 823. 

What more has any Assembly said? 

See again "Address to the French Minister on the birth of the 
Dauphin," and "Address to Washington on his election to the Presi- 
dency," "Testimony against Persecution in Switzerland," "Petition 
to Congress on Sabbath Mail," and report presented by Dr. Plumer 



19 

and adopted in 1853, from whi«*^ I quote the three concluding reso- 
lutions: 

4. "Resolved, That this Assembly cordially approves of the pro- 
visions of a late treaty with the Oriental Republic of Uraguay, 
already cited, and trusts that the Government of the United States 
will, by treaty, secure the acknowledgment of the same inestimable 
rights by all other governments where it may be practicable. 

5. "Resolved, That the people of the congregations in our connec- 
tion be advised to unite with their fellow-citizens in urging upon the 
Government of the United States a careful and earnest attention to 
this matter. 

6. "Resolved, That a duly attested copy of these resolutions be 
furnished to the President of the United States, to the President of 
the Senate, and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of 
the next Congress for the consideration of each of these branches of 
the Government of our country." — Digest, p. 7SS. 

And so we submit the Presbyterian Church from its very origin, 
especially during the Revolution, the only times parallel to our own, 
lias acted on precisely the same principle as did the Assembly during 
our late civil convulsions. 

II. All Evangelical Churches, both North and South, have taken 
precisely the same position and made substantially the same Deliver- 
ances as our own. 

1. The Congregationalisis. — The different Congregational bodies 
in the Eastern, Western and Middle States, as ail know, with one 
consent took action, the same in substance, far stronger in language 
than our own. 

2. The Lutherans. — The General Synod of the Lutheran Church, 
in 1S62, after a preamble declaring that the rebellion was against 
the lawfully constituted Government, that that Government must be 
sustained as an ordinance of God; that they feel bound to express 
their convictions of truth and sustain the great interests of law and 
authority. Resolved: 

1. "That it is the deliberate judgment of this Synod that the re- 
bellion against the Constitutional Government of this land is most 
wicked in its inception, unjustifiable in its cause, inhuman in its 
prosecution, and destructive in its results to the highest interests of 
morality and religion. 

2. "That in the suppression of this rebellion and in the mainte- 
nance of the Constitution and Union by the sword, we recognize an 



20 

unavoidable necessity and a sacred duty which the Government 
'owes to the nation and to the world,' and call upon our people to 
pray for 'success to the army and navy, that our beloved land may 
speedily be delivered from treason and anarchy.' In 18G4 the 
Synod reiterates and reaffirms its action." — McPherson, p. 47S. 

3. The German Reformed. — The German Reformed Synod of 
Pennsylvania in 1864, resolved "that this Convention deems it right 
and proper to give expression to the unfaltering devotion with which 
the German Reformed Church in, the United States has hitherto sus- 
tained the cause of our common country, and we earnestly urge 
upon our clergy and laity to continue to labor and pray for the 
success of the Government in its efforts to suppress the existing 
rebellion, and to restore peace and union." — Do. p. 482. 

The Genera] Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church adopted still 
stronger resolutions in 1863. 

4. The Baptists. — At the General Convention of the Baptists in 
Brooklyn in 1861, it was resolved "that the doctrine of secession is 
foreign to our Constitution, revolutionary, suicidal, setting out in 
anarchy and finding its ultimate issue in despotism. 2. That the 
National Government deserves our loyal adhesion and unstinted 
support in its maintenance of the nationnl unity and life." 

The New York Baptist Convention of 1862 resolved that "as a 
religious body we deem it our duty to cherish and manifest the 
deepest sympathy for the preservation and perpetuity of a Govern- 
ment which protects us in the great walk of Christian civilization." 
Similar resolutions were adopted by the Baptist Conventions of 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. — Do. p. 474. 

5. Methodist Protestant. — The Methodist Protestant Church at its 
General Convention in 1862 made a deliverance of a tenor precisely 
similar to those of the Baptists. — Do. p. 499. 

6. Methodist Episcopal. — The Methodist Episcopal Church in its 
General Convention in 1861, Resolved, among other things, 

2. "That it is the duty of the Government to prosecute the war 
with all its resources of men and money till this wicked rebellion shall 
be subdued, the integrity of the nation shall be secured and its legiti- 
mate authority shall be established, and that we pledge our hearty 
support and co-operation to secure this result " 

5. "That we regard slavery as abhorent to the principles of our holy 
religion, humanity and civilization, and that we are in favor of such 
measures as will 'prohibit slavery or involuntary servitude, except for 



21 

crime, throughout all the States and Territories of the country.'" 
Do. p. 498. 

7. Protestant Episcopal. — The Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
Diocese of Pennsylvania in 1864, Resolved. 

"That we hereby declare our unfaltering allegiance to the Govern- 
ment of the United States, and that we pledge it our willing devotion 
and service," and will pray that our now lacerated country may be so 
reunited, that "there shall be but one Union, one Government, one Flag, 
one Constitution." 

In the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
United States, held in New York in 1862, the Committee to whom had 
been referred a number of papers on the state of the country, preface 
their Report, which was adopted as the action of the Church on the 
subject, with the remark, that in framing the resolutions, "They have 
designed to leave no room for honest doubt, or even for invidious mis- 
construction as to the hearty loyalty of this body to the Government 
of the United States." And further, "There could have been no hesi- 
tation under any circumstances in expressing now and always our ear- 
nest and abiding loyalty and devotion to our country, its Constitution 
and its laws, and to all its duly constituted authorities." Here follows 
a series of resolutions expressing their loyalty to the Government, their 
condemnation of the rebellion and hope for the speedy restoration of our 
beloved Union, while at the same time they avoided entering upon "any 
narrow questions, which peculiarly belong to the domain of secular poli- 
tics." 

In the long letter of the Bishops to the Churches we find the following: 
"When St. Paul, in direct connection with the words just cited, exhorts 
us to 'render to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to 
whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor,' and that 'not 
only for wrath, but for conscience sake,' we have no hesitation in teach- 
ing that the claim to all these duties and manifestations of allegiance and 
loyalty from us and from all those States so recently united in render- 
ing them, is rightfully in that Government, which is now by force of 
arms maintaining such claim. The refusal of such allegiance we hold to 
be a sin, and when it stands forth in armed rebellion, it is a great 
crime before the laws of God, as well as man. This, Brethren, your 
Bishops teach as official expositors of the Word of God. Less they believe 
they could not teach without unfaithfulness to the Scriptures." Do. 483. 

8. All branches of the Presbyterian Church: the United Presbyte- 
rian, the Cumberland Presbyterian, the New School Presbyterian, took 
precisely the same action, as a specimen of all, I read the Deliverance of 



22 

the Cumberland Presbyterian General Assembly of 1863, " Whereas, 
the Church is the light of the world, and cannot withhold her testimony 
upon great moral and religious questions; Resolved, that loyalty and 
obedience to the General Government, in the exercise of its legitimate 
authority, are the imperative Christian duties of every citizen, and that 
treason and rebellion are not mere political offences of one section against 
another, but heinous sins against God and his authority." — Do. p. 473. 

We come now to the action of the Evangelical Churches in the 
Southern States, all of which assumed the same attitude towards the 
Government of the Confederate States and expressed towards it the same 
duties of submission, loyalty and devotion as an ordinance of God. 
And I need not say that the principles in question are the same no mat- 
tar to what Government applied. 

The Alabama Baptist State Convention in November 1860, before 
war had commenced, or a single State seceded, after declaring that 
"The Union had failed in important particulars to answer the end for 
which it was created," continued in these words, "While as yet no par- 
ticular mode of relief is before us, we are constrained to declare that we 
hold ourselves subject to the call of proper authority in defence of the sove- 
reignty and independence of the State of Alabama, and of her right, as 
a sovereignty, to withdraw from this Union. And in this declaration 
we heartily, deliberately, unanimously and solemnly unite." — McPher- 
son, p. 513. 

In the Georgia Eaptist Convention of 1861: "Whereas the State Con- 
vention of Georgia, in the legitimate exercise of her sovereignty, has 
withdrawn from the confederacy known as the United States of America, 
and for the better maintenance of her rights, honor and independence, 
has united with other States in a new confederacy under the title of the 
Confederate States of America: and whereas, Abraham Lincoln is 
attempting by force of arms to subjugate these States, in violation of 
the fundamental principles of American liberty — therefore Resolved" — 
then follow resolutions to approve and support the Government of the 
Confederate States, urging the union of all the people of the South in 
defence of the common cause at whatever cost of treasure or of blood. 
Do. p. 513. 

The Methodist, the Episcopal, and I believe every Church South, at 
once recognized the legitimacy of the Government of the Confederate 
States, and assumed towards it the same attitude of submission and 
loyalty which the Churches North had assumed towards the Govern- 
ment of the United States. 



23 

2. Some of the very first notes of war, as you are aware, issued from 
the pulpits of the Old School Presbyterian Church. Drs. Thornwell and 
Palmer were universally recognized as the leaders of the body and 
their voice upon all questions was most potential. On tiie 21st day of 
November, 1860, in Columbia, S. C, Dr. Thornwell, from the pulpit, 
discussed the theory of the Government, the relations between the 
States and the Federal Government, and advocated the political doctrine 
of States Rights. Dr. Palmer, from his pulpit, in New Orleans, took 
for his theme that it was the Providential trust of the South "to con- 
serve and to perpetuate the institution of slavery as now existing," 
"with the right unchanged by man to go and root itself wherever 
Providence and nature may carry it;" and urges the fulfilment of this 
trust "in the face of the utmost possible peril." — "Should the madness of 
the hour appeal to the arbitration of the sword we will not shrink even 
from the baptism of fire." He then reviews the condition of political 
parties, and urges Secession as an immediate and imperative duty. I 
allude to these celebrated sermons because they were such potential agen- 
cies in precipitating the political catastrophe which followed. They were 
widely circulated as campaign documents, the religious papers of the 
South, almost without exception, echoed their call, and the several 
Presbyteries, one after one, stood prepared to renounce all allegiance to 
the United States and transfer it to the Confederate States. 

On December 3d, 1860, months before the war commenced, the 
Synod of South Carolina declared: "The Synod has no hesitation, 
therefore, in expressing the belief that the people of South Carolina are 
now called upon to imitate their Revolutionary forefathers and stand up 
for their rights. We have an humble and abiding confidence that the 
God whose truth we represent, in this conflict will be with us, and ex- 
horting our Churches and people to put their trust in God and go 
forward in the solemn path of duty which His providence opens before 
them, we, Ministers and Elders of the Presbyterian Church in South 
Carolina Synod assembled, would give them our benediction, and the 
assurance that we shall fervently and unceasingly implore for them the 
care and protection of Almighty God." 

In the preamble and resolutions adopted by the Presbytery of 
Charleston, in July, 1861, we find the following : "The relations of the 
State of South Carolina and ten other adjacent States, and of the people 
thereof, with the other States and people previously composing the 
United States of America, have been dissolved, and the former united 
in the separate and independent Government of the Confederate States of 
America." The United States Government is spoken of as one "foreign 



24 

and hostile to our own — "a political power which we, in common with 
our fellow-citizens of all classes and all Churches, have disowned and 
rejected;" calls the Confederate authorities "the rightful and legal 
authorities of the land;" declares that the people of the United States 
"have violated the Constitution under which we were originally con- 
federated, and broken the covenant entered into by their fathers and 
ours;" and concludes: "We do most heartily, with the full approval of 
our consciences before our Lord God, unanimously approve the action 
of the States and people of the Confederate States of America." 

The first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the 
Confederate States met in December, 1861. It assumed in all its 
proceedings that the political bonds which had joined them to the 
United States were sundered, and that the Confederate States were 
an independent government. Their action throughout implicitly — 
their letter to all the Churches throughout the world explicitly — recog- 
nize the Confederate States as an actual and rightful government, 
thus deciding as a Church the political question then in dispute and 
unsettled between them and the United States, the decision of which 
had been committed by both parties to the final arbitrament of the 
sword. In the Narrative adopted by that Assembly they say, "In 
the first place, we notice the relation of our congregations to the 
great struggle in which we are engaged. All the Presbyterial Nar- 
ratives without exception mention the fact, that their congregations 
have evinced the most cordial sympathy with the people of the Con- 
federate States, in their efforts to maintain their cherished rights and 
institutions against the despotic power which is attempting to crush 
them. Deeply convinced that this struggle is not alone for civil 
rights and property and home, but also for religion, for the Church, 
for the Gospel, for existence itself, the Churches in our connection 
have freely contributed to its prosecution of their substance, their 
prayers, and above all, of their members and the beloved youth of 
their congregations. The Assembly desire to record with its solemn 
approval this fact of the unanimity of our people in supporting a 
contest to which Religion, as well as Patriotism, now summons the 
citizens of this country, and to implore for them the blessing of God 
in the course they are now pursuing." 

It is a singular instance of the influence of times of great excite- 
ment in swerving men from the most cherished principles of their 
lives, and one which ought to teach us charity for each other, 
that our Southern brethren who had so long and loudly de- 
clared that slavery was a political question, with which the Church 



25 

might not intermeddle, should proclaim to the world, as they did in 
1S64, that "it is the peculiar mission of the Southern Church to con- 
serve the institution of slavery." And we submit that our affirma- 
tion is made good — all Evangelical Churches in the country, both 
North and South, during the recent troubles, took precisely the same 
ground as our Greneral Assembly. 

III. All Protestant Churches throughout the world reject our 
American doctrine, as to the relation between the Church and the 
State. In the Church of England, the King, by virtue of his office, 
is Head of the Church. He prepared its prayer-book, ordained its 
rites and ceremonies, and by his own authority set up its whole 
frame-work. The Queen at this hour is the supreme head of the 
Church, the fountain of all Ecclesiastical power. Bishops sit in 
Parliament, and Parliament is the supreme arbiter in all questions of 
Ecclesiastical law. 

In all Presbyterian Churches throughout the world, except our 
own, there is both theoretically and practically a most intimate 
union of the temporal and the spiritual power. 

The Westminster Assembly, which composed our noble standards, 
was convened by order of Parliament, dissolved by it, and all their 
deliberations directed and controlled by it. The 23d chapter of the 
Westminster Confession, as prepared by them and held to this day as 
the doctrine of the Scotch and Irish Presbyterian Churches, declares : 
''The civil magistrate hath authority and it is his duty to take order 
that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of God 
be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be sup- 
pressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented 
or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered 
and observed. For the better affecting whereof, he hath power to call 
Synods to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is trans- 
acted in them be according to the mind of Grod. v Think of the 
President of the United States deciding the questions which occupy 
our Church Courts, pronouncing upon what is orthodox in doctrine and 
immoral or blasphemous in practice, prescribing the duties of Ministers 
and Church Courts, settling and regulating all matters of worship and 
discipline, convoking, dissolving, presiding over our Greneral Assem- 
blies. 

Yet all this — it is the doctrine of the Westminster Confession — "he 
hath authority, and it is his duty" to do, and all this the Queen of 
England does to this day in the established Church of Scotland, and all 
3 



26 

this the Free Church confesses it is her right and her duty to do. 
And yet alongside of such a doctrine as this she holds fast to the Supreme 
Headship of Christ, and has made such glorious sacrifices and borne 
such glorious testimony to Christ's crown and covenant. Such is the 
doctrine of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the mother of us all. 

And now, the final conclusion from all this is: — If the acts of the 
Assembly during the last five years have been in harmony with the pre- 
vious acts of our highest Church Courts from the beginning, — if they 
have been in harmony with those of all other Evangelical Churches 
North and South, if they have been in harmony, not only with the 
practice but with the doctrine of all Presbyterian and all Protestant 
Churches throughout the World except our own, — then its error, what- 
ever it be, cannot be either fatal or fundamental — then the question as to 
the relation between Church and State cannot be an essential one; and 
error of doctrine or of practice on such a subject cannot make a Church 
apostate — then all the Doctrines of salvation, and all the Ordinances 
of the Church, its Ministry and its Sacraments, may be preserved entire, 
while it errs as to a question of only occasional importance and inferior 
concern. If the General Assembly has become apostate because of its 
actions in the premises, then is every Church on earth apostate, Chris- 
tianity has vanished from the world, and the kingdom of God has dis- 
appeared from among men. I know how easy it is in excited states of 
mind to magnify "the jot and tittle" into the "weightier matters of the 
Law," but the common sense of all men recognizes the distinction be- 
tween essential and unessential in questions of Doctrine and Duty; and 
will not make the question before us "the Article of a standing or^fall- 
ing Church." 

And let me ask here, why, when all are in the same condemnation, 
should our Church alone be singled out, as the object of such fierce and 
persistent assault ? And why, when the same guilt must rest upon the 
conscience of every member of every other Church in the land, should 
it drive us alone to division and schism ? 

The Truth corrupted is not fundamental. The Error imputed is not 
fatal. The whole question is one which rises into importance only 
in times of great political excitement, and leaves the doctrines of Re- 
demption and the ordinances and institutions of the Church entirely 
unaffected, and error with reference to such a question never can justify 
Division. This is our first position. 



27 

The second is, that the General Assembly is not the Church, and its 
Acts and Deliverances alone cannot make the Church Apostate. Our 
Constitution and laws are found in the Bible and our written Standards. 
The Tribunals to interpret and administer them are a series of Courts, 
of which the General Assembly is the highest. It is a representative 
body of limited and carefully defined powers. It is the mere creature 
of the Presbyteries, subject to their control, liable to be modified 
or dissolved by them at any time The Presbyteries are the 
fountain of all power in Presbyterianism. The Assembly is 
not a permanent body, but created from year to year, by the Pres- 
byteries, and when its work is done, it is not adjourned but dissolved, 
and ceases to be, and another and altogether different body is again 
created by the Presbyteries. The Assembly can make no Article 
of Faith, ordain no Constitutional rule, which has the force of per- 
manent and universal Law — that belongs to the Presbyteries alone. 
"Before any overtures or regulations, proposed by the Assembly 
to be established as constitutional rules, shall be obligatory on the 
Churches, it shall be necessary to transmit them to all the Presby- 
teries, and to receive the returns of at least a majority of them, in 
writing, approving thereof." — Form of Gov. chap. 12, sec. 6. 

The Assemblies sustain the same relation to the Church that the 
Congresses elected every two years do to the Government, and con- 
stitute, not the Government, but only so many different administrations 
of it, and are changed in one case by the people, and in the other by 
the Presbyteries at will. Their acts depend, from year to year, on 
casual majorities, and always concern, not the Doctrines, or Order, 
or Life of the Church in themselves, but only the application or 
adaptation of these to the emergent exigencies of times and circum- 
stances. 

The Assembly exercises two broadly distinguishable functions, 
those of Teaching and of Government. As a Teacher it interprets 
and declares the revealed will of God, and applies it to actual circum 
stances as they arise, just as a Pastor in his pulpit ministrations It 
gives utterance to its interpretations and applications of the Word of 
God, but for these it claims no infallibility. Our Book expressly 
declares "that all Synods and Counsels may err, and have erred." 
The Assembly has never laid claim to infallibility; always admit- 
ted its liability to err, and one declares and teaches what another 
rejects. Our Book expressly denies to the Assembly all power to 
bind the conscience or enforce its own Deliverances as the Word of 



28 

God. It expressly recognizes the right of private judgment, and 
every member of the Church not only may, but is bound to sit in 
judgment upon them, and decide for himself whether they be 
"according to the Word of God, aside from, or contrary to it." "All 
Synods or Councils since the Apostles' time, whether general or 
particular, may err, and many have erred, therefore they are not to 
be made the Rules of Faith or Practice, but to be used as a help in 
both." — Con. eh. 31, sec. 3. "God alone is Lord of the conscience, 
find hath left it free from the doctrines or commandments of men, 
which are in any thing contrary to His Word or beside it in matters 
of Faith and Worship; and the requiring an implicit faith, and an 
absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience and 
reason also." — Con. ch. 20, sec. 2. 

Every Assembly recognizes the absolute right of protest, dissent 
and open difference from its Acts and Deliverances, and if rash 
words have been sometimes spoken, and hasty actions sometimes 
taken, which seemed to infringe upon this right, no Assembly has 
ever deliberately called it in question, and none ever will. All the 
Acts of Assemblies preceding 1865 were in discharge of its office of 
Instruction. They simply declared, as Helpers of your Faith, what 
they believed to be the truth, and you are left free to receive or re- 
ject their testimony as it is according to the Word oi God, aside from 
or contrary to it. How can such Instructions bind the Faith or 
wound the conscience? 

No Presbyterian surely can regard any man, or any body of men, 
Synod, Council or Assembly, as infallible, or accept their utter- 
ances as Oracles. We recognize but one infallible Standard of Faith 
and practice — the Holy Scriptures. We know no infallible inter- 
preters of these, but using all as "helps to our Faith and prac- 
tice," every one for himself, in the exercise of his private judgment, 
and upon his own personal responsibility, receives or rejects. This 
is the glory of Protestantism. It is a fundamental principle of Pres- 
byterianism, and we are amazed that any should doubt or hesitate 
with reference to it. 

But the Assembly exercises also the power of Government. It 
is a court of last appeal, and its judicial decisions once pronounced 
are peremptory and final. The Assembly of 1865 exercised its power 
of Government when it required the lower courts — Sessions and 
Presbyteries and Synods — to examine all applicants for admission 
from the South into the bodies under their care, upon the subjects of 
loyalty and freedom, and to require repentance from all who had 



29 

offended in faith or in practice with reference to either. Their De- 
liverance here, though not a Law in the proper sense of that word, 
but only an Order, took the form of Law, as it prescribed something 
to be done, and as such, for our present purpose, we will regard it. 

Let us look here at the Reason of this law — the conditions it im- 
plied and the end it was designed to reach, that we may see what it 
really was, for a high authority has told us, "He that knoweth not 
the reason of a law, knoweth not the law itself." It had respect only 
to those who had been voluntary participants in the rebellion, and to 
them only when they made voluntary application for admission. It 
did not go out to seek them. It was enacted just when the war had 
closed, just when soldiers from both armies were returning to their 
homes, and in the Border States meeting in the same congregations. 
It was just after the assassination of President Lincoln, when the 
public mind was almost frenzied, — that time never to be forgotten of 
wild and terrible excitement. In the Border States, especially in 
portions of Kentucky and Missouri, where the tempest of passion was 
fiercest, many churches were threatened with scenes of violence and 
bloodshed, on the very floors of their sanctuaries, by reason of the 
presence of these returned soldiers. Members and officers of the 
churches from these localities appeared before the Assembly and its 
committee and plead that, for their own protection, they must have 
power over their membership to exclude those whose presence 
threatened to provoke violence, until passion should have time to sub- 
side. To meet this emergency, and under the impression of repre- 
sentations such as these, the Orders of 1865 were passed. In their 
very nature, as well as in the intention of the Assembly, they were 
temporary. They soon expired of their own limitation, having 
accomplished all they were intended to accomplish, and became, like 
multitudes of laws upon your statute books, a dead letter. 

Such, beyond all question, the last Assembly regarded them. I 
stated without question or rebuke, openly on the floor of the Assem- 
bly, that the Presbytery of Baltimore had not enforced them — that 
I did not believe there was a single Session within its bounds which 
had done so. Some, twenty others stated the same fact on behalf 
of their Presbyteries and Sessions, and no one was called to account. 
There was not a word said publicly or privately about enforcing 
them, which ever came to my ears. The Reason of the Law does 
not now apply to the Churches even of the border, and its reason 
ceasing, the law itself has passed away. 

Not only by silent acquiescence, but by positive action the last 



30 

Assembly declared its judgment that the orders of 1865 were not 
now of force. 

"It having come to the knowledge of this body that some of the 
ministers under our care, not able to subscribe to the recent Testi- 
monies of the General Assembly on the subjects of Loyalty and 
Freedom, and that some who have not signed or formally approved 
the Declaration and Testimony, do, nevertheless, hesitate to comply 
with the requirements of the last Assembly, touching the reception 
of members from the South, known, or supposed to have been in 
sympathy with the rebellion; therefore, 

"Resolved, That while we would treat such ministers with kindness 
and forbearance, and would by no means interfere with the full and free 
discussion on their part of the Testimonies and requirements referred 
to, we deem it a solemn duty which we owe to them and to the 
Church, to guard them against giving countenance in any way to de- 
clarations and movements which are defiant of the Assembly's au- 
thority, and schismatical in their tendency and aim, and we do 
earnestly exhort them, in the name and for the sake of our common 
Lord and Master, to study and pursue the things which make for 
peace." — Proceedings, 1866, p. 103. 

This resolution, for I know its history, was designed to declare 
two things: First, that lower courts who should fail to carry out 
the Orders of the Assembly of 1S65, were not to be held to account 
for such failure. Second, that those who refused in a spirit of de- 
fiance to the Assembly's authority, and expressed that refusal in 
terms of defiance, should be held to account not for the refusal but 
for the defiance. 

This is expressed still more plainly in another resolution: 
"The dissatisfaction and discontent consequent upon the Deliver- 
ances of the Assembly of 1865 are abating with increased knowledge 
of the design and propriety of these decisions, and it is confidently 
believed that maturer reflection will produce a fuller acquiescence 
in the authority of the Church. It is alike the past and present 
purpose of our Church to preserve within its fold all who sin- 
cerely and earnestly love its order and doctrines, and to fan into 
life and energy every lingering spark of genuine attachment to our 
faith and order, which may exist in those portions of our country 
where the spirit and unrelenting power of the rebellion drove many 
true and loyal Presbyterians into a hostile attitude toward the 
Church and the Country. With this enlarged and Christian view 
it is appropriate to declare, lhat whilst the testimony and authority 



31 

of our Church are to be obeyed, the fullest Christian liberty of 
opinion is tolerated and protected, and no enforcement of the De- 
liverances of our Church is expected or demanded, except that 
which will debar from our communion and Church courts all those 
who refuse to submit to "the powers that be," and remain in 
wilful antagonism to the manifestations of God's providence and 
the authoritative decisions of our Church." — Proceedings, 1866, 
p. 107. 

And still again : "While the last Assembly but fulfilled its duty 
in issuing these injunctions, (those of 1865,) it left their application 
to the persons concerned entirely to the lower courts." — Proceedings, 
p. 100. This expressly recognizes every ihing we have affirmed as 
to the Order of 1865. 

But why, it is asked, was not the Act in question explicitly and 
formally repealed ? For two sufficient reasons. First, because the 
majority would not consent to its repeal, in the face of what they 
considered a spirit of rebellion against its rightful authority in the 
case. And second, because many who would have consented held 
that as each Assembly is independent in an important sense of every 
other, one cannot repeal the Acts of another. 

And now I affirm here, in presence of you all, in my own behalf 
and in behalf of every Pastor and every Session in this city, the 
Assembly has put no burden upon our conscience. It has bound no 
fetters upon our hands. We preach and we administer the laws of 
Christ's House just as we have always done. We exact no new 
terms of communion, we require nothing more than we have always 
required of those in our communion, or of those seeking admission 
into it. Extraordinary measures have passed away with the extra- 
ordinary times which called them forth, and like the soldier we leave 
the field and lay aside the harness for the peaceful walks in spiritual 
industry again. 

As to the past at least our course is clear. There is nothing there to 
drive us from the Church of our fathers. What the future may have 
in store for us is known only to God. We are told that the spirit of 
Violence and Fanaticism has taken such thorough possession of those 
we once delighted to call our brethren in Christ, a*id of the Church 
we once so loved, that it can never be exorcised. I cannot discern 
the spirits, I cannot foresee the future, but I will wait at least till 
the evil come. We may be told that the New and the Old School 
Churches will unite in the North as they have already done in the 



32 

South, and a new flood of fanaticism will be let in upon us, I do 
not know what shall be on the morrow, but, meantime, I will stand 
in my lot and wait till the predicted evil comes. "Sufficient unto the 
day is the evil thereof," and Prophets of Evil are not always inspired- 
It may be that Truth has somehow lost its old Omnipotence, and 
error has seized upon its power — but I do not believe it. And how- 
ever Truth may be obscured and buried for the time in the dust of 
the arena where she struggles, she will rise again. "The immortal 
years of God are hers." And I will toil, and pray, and wait, and 
watch for her hour of triumph — for come it will, however long de- 
layed. Grreat truths always make their way slowly and work them- 
selves by almost imperceptible degrees into the life of the Church. 
It was through the lapse of ages and alternate victories and defeats 
often repeated, we have at la6t acquired the glorious trophies we 
possess to-night. It was reserved for the Presbyterians of this land 
to discover and propound to the Churches all over Christendom the 
true theory of the relations between Church and State. Not one of 
them all has yet attained to that theory, though they are slowly 
making their way towards it And what if we do not always clearly 
discern and unfalteringly carry it out to all its practical conclusions, 
every fresh failure serves but for a new Warning and a new Incite- 
ment for the future, and so helps on the final triumph. 



And now, since our consciences and our hands are left free, we 
are at liberty to look at the practical evils of separation. 

1. The law of love is the fundamental law of Christ's house- 
Sins against Truth, as against every other Doctrine and every other 
Grace are but sins againgt the Statutes of the Kingdom; sins against 
Charity are sins against its very Constitution. Do violence to any 
other law of the House and you only rend away a pillar from its por- 
tico or a stone from its walls; do violence to the law of Love and 
you tear up its very foundation and make the whole building a ruin. 
"The greatest of these is Charity." "God is love, and he thatloveth 
not, knoweth not God." "A new Commandment," said the great 
Founder and Legislator of the Kingdom, "I give unto you, that ye 
love one another." "Hereby shall all men know that ye are my 
disciples, if ye have love one to another." "Love one to another," 
that I appoint as your badge and your rallying cry. That I give 
unto you with these bleeding hands, starred with my tears and 
striped with my blood, as your consecrated banner-flag, ever to 



33 

wave before your ranks and distinguish you amidst the gatherings of 
the Hosts. We may err as to our duty in what belongs to us as 
members of the Church and what as citizens of the State. We may 
not always discern the dim boundary line which separates the secu- 
lar from the spiritual, and sometimes may transgress upon the one 
side or the other; and the error may be recovered and forgiven, and 
work no fatal injury to our souls. But if we have lost "love one to 
another," we have lost our badge, we have lost our banner, we have 
lost everything, and neither God or man can know us as Christ's 
Disciples. "A new Commandment give I unto you, that ye love 
one another. Hereby shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if 
ye have love one to another." Strange, my brethren, when we 
speak so often of our zeal for Truth and tell so often of our sacrifice 
for Principle, we should speak so little of our zeal for Charity and 
tell so little of our sacrifice for Love. "Above all things put on 
Charity." 

If it be indeed true that Christians of the North and Christians of 
the South "hate each other with such a cruel hatred" that they can- 
not dwell together — if it be indeed true that those who once loved 
and trusted each other, and went up to the House of God in com- 
pany, can love and trust each other no longer, then is the glory 
departed. If passion and hatred be the only ground of separation, 
then indeed are we no longer Christ's disciples. And should these 
impel us still further to break the bonds of external unity and rend 
asunder the body of Christ, which is His Church, then are we guilty 
of the sin of Schism. It is no small sin to rend and separate what 
Christ has made one, — no small sin to make a fresh wound in that 
scarred body of His, — no small sin to introduce division and strife 
into the household of Faith, and plant the seeds of discord and 
contentions among those who are called to dwell together in love — 
to charm by fell incantations the serpent into the bowers of our 
only earthly Paradise. We pray God that the guilt of Schism may 
never rest upon your soul or upon mine. 

2. Whither shall we go, if we go out self-exiled from the house 
of our Fathers] Where but Cain-like to wander as fugitives and 
vagabonds upon the face of the whole earth, houseless and homeless? 
We can find no Church North or South to shelter us, for the same 
leprous spot is upon all alike. Independency — A Presbyterian 
without Presbyterianism? The house is too small, and it rests upon 
a foundation of narrow and shifting sands. In a little time the 
4 



34 

questions which now absorb us, and to our excited feelings loom 
up so largely as to fill the whole spiritual heavens, will be altogether 
forgotten or dwarfed and dwindled down to their true dimensions. 
When these political feelings, heated as they have become, in the fires 
of this fierce controversy, shall have cooled down — when new parties 
shall have arisen, and new issues been joined, confounding all the 
lines and landmarks of the present, and ranging us in new ranks, 
we will look back upon the passions of the hour as but the distorted 
visions of a distempered dream. No! the passions and excitements 
of the passing day, dignify and baptize them by whatever hallowed 
name of Truth or Principle we may, are not broad enough or firm 
enough to furnish a foundation on which a Church of God may rest. 
The world is covered all over with the wreck and ruin of such, 
built as they were upon the sands, "and daubed with untempered 
mortar " 

3. The wounds inflicted by these last terrible years are not yet 
healed — shall we open them all afresh'? Through our families and 
our congregations shall we plough fresh furrows of discord and 
division, before the marks of the old are effaced? Shall we present 
to the world the spectacle of strifes and debatings in the house of 
God — the home of Love and the sanctuary of Peace? Shall we 
bring upon ourselves the shame of wrangling with each other in secu- 
lar courts for the Temples of our God? Shall we lay up for ourselves 
a heritage of alienations and antipathies to spoil our future peace, and 
soil and sear our souls? Shall we transmit to our children a legacy 
of discords and divisions, and poison their opening minds with the 
deadly night-shade of our strifes? Shall we plant in this commu 
nity the seeds of a hereditary hate, which shall spring up and ripen 
into their fearful harvest long after we are slumbering in our graves? 
Shall we embody and make perpetual the passions of the hour 
which have brought upon us such a terrible baptism of blood? 
Would we embalm and transmit them as Monuments and Memorials 
of these evil days ? Would we vivify and leave them behind us to 
scatter among our children poisoned arrows and death? No, my 
Brethren; let us extinguish them in our own hearts. Let us destroy 
every monument and every memorial of them which we had thought 
to leave behind. Let us repair with united hands the desolation they 
have already wrought; and be careful that we do not transmit them 
as a legacy of strife and blood to our children and our children's 
children. It is easy to plant the seeds of hereditary strife, for our 
children catch our spirit, inherit our passions, and prolong our con- 



35 

flicts. And here, upon the Border, with those passions which lately 
burned so fiercely, still smouldering, let us be careful that our 
breath fan them not into a fiercer flame God is calling us — loudly 
calling us to ministries of love. Whose hands shall be busied in 
binding up these bleeding wounds if not ours? If the Church be 
not found at this hour engaged in the blessed work, by whom shall 
it be done? 

As for me, I cannot leave the Church of my Fathers. As soon 
would I think of forsaking the mother who bore me, for a rash act 
or a hasty word. She received me into her sheltering arms in 
infancy; sprinkled the waters of baptism upon my brow; cherished 
my childhood; led my tottering steps to her sanctuaries, and 
surrounded me all my life long with her blessed ministries of 
Instruction and of Love. God is in the midst of her, for I have seen 
His glory and felt His presence, and as I trust, experienced His grace 
in her temples. The provisions of her house have been sweet to my 
taste, and under her shadow have I sat these many years with great 
delight. Kindred and friends, one after one, have I seen them ascend 
from her courts in the chariots of fire, to join the ransomed Church 
above, and their memories still hallow her sanctuaries. And with 
these memories of all she has been, and all she has done for me and 
those most dear to me, still fresh and warm in my heart, I cannot, 
no, I cannot forsake her now. 

Times of trial and conflict may come. But such were no new 
thing in her history, baptised as she was in the blood of persecution 
and nurtured amidst the storms of revolution. She bears to-day the 
scars of many a conflict, but from each in turn she came forth victo- 
rious. The smell of many a furnace is upon her to-day, but the flames 
of each kindled upon her not to destroy, but only to purify and pre- 
serve. We glory in her past history. We bless God for all she 
has been permitted to do for His Truth and His Worship, and for the 
Salvation of men. And to-day she still stands amidst the tribes of 
Israel, her glorious banner streaming, as of old, in the front rank 
of the Sacramental Host. What though confusion may happen for 
the moment to a little portion of her ranks, the mighty host is still 
moving onward, for her God is with her — her Glory and her Defence. 
And never, perhaps, has He given such abundant tokens of His 
presence and His power in her sanctuaries as during the past year. 
Never, perhaps was His spirit more largely poured out or more 



36 

numerous converts gathered into her bosom. Ah, my Brethren, 
this is what we want, — to have our minds turned away from these 
ephemeral questions to the great things which pertain to the King. 
A revival of religion, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our 
Churches, and our own souls — how soon this would hush all these 
agitations and unite all our hearts in the Unity of the Spirit and the 
bonds of Peace. 



